Preceded by Riding created Preceded by Riding re-created Role Judge | Preceded by William C. Crocket Name Charles Richards Nationality Canadian | |
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Born June 12, 1879Southampton, New Brunswick, Canada ( 1879-06-12 ) Succeeded by Leonard Percy de Wolfe Tilley | ||
Charles Dow Richards (June 12, 1879 – September 15, 1956), born in Southampton, New Brunswick, was a judge and New Brunswick politician.
He served as Conservative house leader and then Minister of Lands and Mines under Premier John B. M. Baxter. In 1931 he became premier and tried to deal with the Great Depression without much success. His two-year administration, in the depths of the Great Depression, instituted public bidding on crown land and fishing rights. In 1933 he left politics when he was appointed to the Supreme Court of New Brunswick, serving as its Chief Justice from 1946 to 1955.
As Justice, Richards sentenced the last man to be executed in Charlotte County. He did not accept the jury's request "that mercy be shown to the accused," 22-year-old Thomas Roland Hutchings, and sentenced him to hang at St. Andrews, New Brunswick on Wednesday, December 16, 1942 for the rape and murder of Bernice Connors.
Personal life
Initially a schoolteacher, Richards was admitted to the bar at age 33. Richards married Grace Bolton. The couple had one daughter, who married a descendant of Philemon Wright.
He is best remembered not so much as a politician but as a dignified, scholarly lawyer and distinguished judge. Charles Richards died in 1956 and was buried in the Forest Hill Cemetery in Fredericton.